101 Coronavirus Cases At Santa Rita Jail As Cases Spike

DUBLIN, CA — A spike occurred Friday in the number of inmates with COVID-19 at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin for the second day in a row, according to data provided by an attorney representing the sheriff's office.

As of Friday, 101 inmates had tested positive for the virus, attorney Greg Thomas said during a public conference with federal Magistrate Nathanael Cousins. That is up from 46 on Thursday and six on Wednesday.

Cousins held the conference because the virus is very dramatically impacting the jail, he said.

Twenty-six inmates have symptoms of the virus while 75 are asymptomatic, Thomas said. Only one inmate since the pandemic began has had to go to a hospital, and none have died, according to Thomas.

He said it is jail policy that no one gets inside without a mask, but there has been sporadic non-compliance.

Inmates likely were exposed to the virus in the kitchen area, he said, but he did not say how. The inmates who have tested positive are being kept away from other inmates, he said.

Attorney Kara Janssen, who is with Rosen, Bien, Galvan and Grunfeld, advocating on behalf of the inmates, said she believes her firm and the sheriff's office are aligned on preventing the spread of COVID-19 at the jail.

Janssen said her firm has been in settlement negotiations with the sheriff's office in a lawsuit over jail policies.

But the focus has now turned to the pandemic because it must be addressed so that the issues in the suit, which include at least mental health and isolation, can be addressed, Janssen said.

She said people in the jail cannot keep away from others in the same way people outside the jail can.

In jail, "there has to be constant vigilance," she said. "One mistake can be devastating."

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